Retail advertising and sales have historically been relegated to fixed structures such as free standing buildings or malls that include a showroom for potential customers to browse through product displays and then select the merchandise they wish to purchase. These fixed showrooms require the purchaser to make a special trip to the building location. Often, the distances involved are substantial enough to discourage the purchaser from making the journey or require more time than the purchaser has available to travel to the store.
The Internet has opened a new means of shopping for the computer literate population. Almost every product available today in the retail marketplace is also available for purchase through the Internet. With just a few strokes of the keyboard, an individual can browse a variety of products, find product comparison reviews, and select and purchase the product for delivery to the individual's home or business. However, Internet purchases require the electronic transfer of financial information such as bank account numbers or credit card numbers. While great strides have been made to insure confidentiality of such financially sensitive information, it is still subject to misappropriation and interception and misuse by unauthorized individuals. Many purchasers refuse to risk the theft of their financial and identity information and as such will not purchase products via the Internet. Also, such remote purchasing denies the purchaser the ability to view the product in a “hands on” environment such as that afforded by an in-store display.
Consumer retail malls have become very popular over the past fifty years and can now be found in almost every major metropolitan area. These malls are constructed as very large structures with a multitude of individual subdivisions for independent stores that all share a common pedestrian area for the convenience of customers. Small kiosks have also been introduced into these common areas. The kiosk is merely a small display area located in the common pedestrian traffic areas of the malls wherein each kiosk is dedicated to the sale of a single product. However, while these kiosks may be repositionable within the pedestrian area, they are also limited as to their mobility.